From Hook to Plate – how the Commonwealth can help reverse global fisheries crisis
A new report, out today, states that the Commonwealth of Nations can be a crucial instrument in turning round the world-wide crisis in marine fish stocks.
The product of a two year Commonwealth Fisheries Programme, it calls on Commonwealth leaders meeting in Trinidad in November to set up a Ministerial Task Force to harness the resources of 53 member states - only six of which are landlocked - and take initiatives to conserve a key source of food and income.
Twenty six expert authors, in "From Hook to Plate: the State of Marine Fisheries - A Commonwealth Perspective" provide a state-of-the-art analysis of capture fisheries, both deep sea and near-shore, and their related institutional, governance and human issues. With catches declining in many seas since the mid '90s, the Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that 75 per cent of all fisheries are now being exploited at or beyond their maximum sustainable yield. Two authors, Sumaila and Cheung, have produced a graph which shows a fall of around a quarter in the total fish take between 1970 and 2005 for the exclusive economic zones of Commonwealth states.
The report's editors, Richard Bourne and Mark Collins, argue that the situation is serious, but not irreversible.
They call for:
- Application of proven management solutions, such as lower catch quotas, and rights-based community management
- Replacement of legal, institutional and subsidy mechanisms that create incentives to over-fish
- Enhancement and enforcement of international controls on illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing
- Restoration of habitats on which coastal fisheries depend
- Support for consumer-led sustainability programmes
- Greater support for subsistence fishing communities impacted by industrial fisheries.
Speaking at the launch, Dr Collins said:
"As seems so often to be the case, those least responsible for the state of the oceans are the most likely to suffer the consequences of poor management and climate change. Small states, in particular small island states, are vulnerable to illegal and unfair fishing by foreign fleets, and to migration of fish away from warming, sterile seas. Coastal communities of artisanal fisherfolk, depending for their daily meal on the ocean's bounty, will go hungry.
"With food security a growing problem, young people will migrate to city slums in search of a better life, with all the consequences in terms of crime, drugs and social discontent. Falling national revenues from fisheries will threaten the economic security of a number of Commonwealth countries, with consequences in terms of migration patterns, and national and international security."
This report will go to governments ahead of the Commonwealth summit, in Trinidad and Tobago, at the end of November. The proposed Ministerial Task Force can examine and recommend practical policies to restore fisheries in member states' waters, using the formidable expertise available from governments, scientists, fishers and environmentalists. It would link to a special fisheries conference, and the establishment of a Fisheries Fund to promote capacity.
